A fountain-dispensed beverage is a blend of two or more liquids; water and one or more syrups or concentrates. To ensure that a beverage having the desirable taste is dispensed, it is necessary to periodically monitor the ratio of the volume of syrup dispensed to the volume of dispensed water. This ratio is referred to as the Brix ratio.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,251, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an assembly for determining liquid ratio. This assembly, known as a ratio cup, consists of a cup with a vertical center wall that divides the space inside the cup into two chambers. The wall is positioned so that the chambers have cross sectional areas that have a ratio substantially equal to the ideal syrup to water ratio of the beverage to be dispensed.
The ratio cup is used by placing a device known as a diverter tube under the fountain head to flow the individual syrup and water streams into the individual cup chambers. By side-by-side comparison of the liquid levels in the chambers, the technician can determine if the appropriate volume of syrup is discharged per unit volume of discharged water. Based on this determination, the technician, if necessary, adjusts to the dispensing system.
The above system works reasonably well if, for all beverages dispensed from a dispenser, the syrup to water discharge ratios are to be identical. In practice, these ratios frequently vary, even between two beverages discharged from adjacent heads from the same dispenser. To compensate for this difference, it is necessary to provide the technician with a chart that converts a volume measurement of liquid in one chamber to a virtual volume value equal to the amount of liquid that should be in the second chamber. Thus, the technician is required to visually determine the volume of liquid in one chamber, determine the virtual volume of liquid that should be present based on reference to the look up tables, and determine if the actual volume of fluid is present.
Requiring the technician to perform these steps adds to the overall amount of time it takes to determine whether or not a beverage has a desired Brix ratio. Moreover, in order for this method to work properly, the technician must, based on a visual determination of fluid volume, determine the appropriate virtual volume. Requiring these steps introduces the possibility that, due to human error, the Brix ratio will be inaccurately determined.
The '251 patent also provides a second embodiment with a slider element provided on one of the two chambers. The slider element has a horizontal calibration mark thereon to be aligned with one liquid level (i.e., the liquid level of the syrup) and a horizontal tolerance range also marked thereon. In that embodiment, the tube which receives the water from the fountain dispenser must be filled to a minimum fill line marked on the tube. The horizontal calibration mark on the slider is then aligned with the syrup level and when the level of the water falls within the horizontal tolerance range, an acceptable ratio of water to syrup is indicated.